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What is Hollywoozy?

Hollywood still hasn't figured out this whole 'Interweb' thing, hence the often idiotic domain names chosen by the studios to promote their new movies. Hollywoozy is the first Website devoted to reviewing movie domain names, and it's the brainchild of domain name expert and former movie critic Bill Sweetman.

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September 12, 2009

Like many of the ventures I have launched over the years, the idea for this one, a site where I would review movie domain names, came to me out of the blue.

At the time, I thought it would be both fun and educational to use movie domain names (the good and the bad) as a springboard to discuss what makes a good marketing domain name.

I also wanted to create an outlet to share my amusement and frustration with the idiotic domain names chosen by the marketers of movies.

I feel that I accomplished both those objectives, and the reaction to Hollywoozy has been very positive.

Since launching this site, I have had the opportunity to discuss movie domain names with studio executives, filmmakers, marketing folks, and intellectual property lawyers. In doing so, I gained a deeper understanding of why most Hollywood movies end up with less-than-ideal domain names. It was an eye-opening experience.

Here are some of the reasons why movie domains are the way they are (and won't likely change anytime soon):

Since the bulk of a typical Hollywood movie's marketing dollars are spent on traditional, offline media (mainly television and print), the online marketing component is given low priority, little attention, and relatively tiny budgets. Finding and obtaining the best domain name is not seen as a priority, and any money spent on purchasing the domain name(s) will come out of the already squeezed budget for the movie's Website.

Many movie marketers refuse to deal with domain investors who might already own the ideal domain name. It's become almost a matter of principle that Hollywood would rather pay $10 and register a brand new but inferior movie domain name than pay someone else $500 for a much better domain name. Hollywood feels it has been 'burned' too often by cybersquatters (or what Hollywood perceives as cybersquatters) and wants nothing to do with even the legitimate domain resale market.

Because the online marketing of a movie is treated as a low priority, there is little to no measurement done, which means there are few opportunities for the powers to be to learn how having a better domain name would impact their overall success.

Since the main focus of Hollywood movie marketing is to generate buzz and put bums in seats for the movie's opening weekend, most of the marketing activities are geared towards that tiny window of time. Having a better domain name is not seen as having much of an impact on this either.

The studios don't really care that they don't have the perfect domain name. They figure that because they will be spending millions to market whatever domain name they do have, they will still get tons of traffic to the movie's Website. And they also figure that the search engines and popular movie portals like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb will also drive organic traffic as well.

Having learned all of this, I have decided it is pointless of me to keep making fun of Hollywood and its often silly choice of movie domain names. If anything, I've become very forgiving of Hollywood and its domain name foibles. I know the domain names are lame. You know the domain names are lame. And, yes, Hollywood knows the domain names are lame as well.

Since this situation isn't likely to ever change, and since I have a long list of ideas for other ventures I want to turn into reality, this will be my last Hollywoozy post. (Follow me on Twitter or visit BillSweetman.com to keep up with my new ventures.)

I've had a ball creating and updating Hollywoozy, I've loved the discussions and learning and relationships that have flowed out of it, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it.

October 30, 2008

I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, however I'm not so impressed by whoever was responsible for the marketing of his new movie. As you can see, they're promoting Changeling with a .net domain, and it's not even the more intuitive "themovie" version of the .net domain. Hollywoozy did some investigation and has come to the aid of Clint Eastwood and Universal Pictures. We recently were able to obtain the far more intuitive domain changelingthemovie.com (previously registered by a third party) and are now forwarding that domain to the movie's official Website. This is all part of our ongoing commitment to helping Hollywood master its domain. (For the record, we will gladly transfer ownership of the domain name to an official representative of the movie at no charge.)

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

There's nothing pornographic about this Kevin Smith comedy starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, but the movie's title has already caused it to run into some marketing challenges in more conservative parts of the United States. While the Weinstein Company has shrewdly used this to generate additional publicity for the movie, they played it safe with the domain name by choosing to promote the movie using zackandmiri.com versus zackandmirimakeaporno.com (which they also own). Smart move, because keyword-based Internet content filters are likely to block access to any domain featuring "porn" in it.

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

October 16, 2008

Oliver Stone's biopic about the 43rd President of the United States breaks the movie domain name convention by using "thefilm" as the appendage to its title. Perhaps that's because there was already an independent movie titled "W" using wthemovie.com. Ooops! That's a Texas-sized screw up in my books.

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

October 09, 2008

When I first saw the domain name for this new Ridley Scott espionage thriller, I couldn't believe it contained two dashes-of-death. The only explanation I could imagine for this dumb move was that Warner Bros. marketing team thought that promoting the movie with this version would make the domain easier to read. Little did I know that they didn't even own the version without the dash. (It forwards to a Wikipedia entry about the movie.)

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

While the ideal domain name for this biological horror movie would've been quarantine.com (which is currently owned by a third party), I must commend Sony Pictures for not using the predictable fallback: quarantinethemovie.com. The latter is owned by them and points to the official Website, but the movie has been heavily promoted using the movie's tagline as its domain name. That's a savvy compromise.

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

September 18, 2008

Ricky Gervais, who single-handedly saved the recent Emmy Awards from being a complete disaster, plays a briefly-deceased man who now sees dead people. Gervais is a comic genius, and fellow cast members Greg Kinnear and Téa Leoni are always a delight to watch, however the movie's humdrum domain name is sadly predictable.

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

Although they own the 3-star domain name lakeviewterracemovie.com, Sony Pictures is using a clunky 2-star domain name to promote this Neil LaBute thriller. Lakeview Terrace is about a bad cop (Samuel L. Jackson) who really doesn't like his new neighbours. Speaking of which, I wonder if the folks at the Lakeview Terrace retirement home in Altoona, Florida are getting some unusual attention since they use lakeviewterrace.com as their domain name? There goes the neighbourhood!

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

September 11, 2008

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino play NYC detectives trying to solve a murder case that may involve a serial killer. I love De Niro and Pacino, but couldn't a wee bit of the millions of dollars spent on hiring them been allocated to finding a better domain name? The studio doesn't even own righteouskillthemovie.com (without the dash)!

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

I'm not sure the world was clamouring for a remake of George Cukor's 1939 drama, but here it is. This chick flick's awkward casting combination of Meg Ryan and Annette Bening is matched by the clunky domain name. On the other hand, this movie will probably be on video before anyone has a chance to fire up their Web browser.

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Learn more about domain names at Bill's blog, Sweetmantra.

Who is Bill Sweetman?

Domain name expert Bill Sweetman is one of the Internet marketing industry's most respected authorities. Bill is a popular speaker at industry conferences, and he is frequently interviewed by the media about domain names. Find out more about him at BillSweetman.com and read his acclaimed Internet marketing blog, Sweetmantra.